Van Wagenen: Lubbock will survive Wall Street’s woes

Several of you have told me this week you’re tired of hearing about Wall Street, the mortgage bailout, the greed and the thievery that have sent the stock market into an abyss.

Good point, which is why I talked with Egenbacher Real Estate (see story this page) about why the company it represents is about to embark on a $17 million apartment project in the midst of a credit crunch.

Principals there don’t see it that way. The company they’re representing, CJ Development, still sees Lubbock as a great investment.

And why not? Maybe the economics on Wall Street have changed, but not here on Main Street.

You can fret all day about the stock market, but here are some reasons to make you feel good about Lubbock and some of our local business owners who are still out there taking risks in spite of all the doom and gloom.

Among them are:

Caprock Café - The owners of Orlando’s Restaurants are at work on a second Caprock location at RockRidge Plaza (Slide Road and 82nd Street) which will open in early November.

Hurley Cos. - The local manufacturer of corrugated boxes and other specialty products is investing $11 million as it prepares to install one of the largest pieces of automated manufacturing equipment in the U.S. that will eventually produce egg trays out of recycled products. It also plans to add 50 jobs.

Yellowhouse Machinery Co. - The John Deere construction equipment dealership broke ground a few months ago on a new $7 million dealership at 3405 Slaton Road, which will be open in time for its 50th anniversary in December.

United Supermarkets - The company is investing $4.2 million in a new state-of-the-art commercial ice-making operation at its Llano Logistics warehouse in East Lubbock that will create 25 jobs.

Osteogenics Biomedical - The company has planned a 10,000-square-foot manufacturing/packing facility that will be built adjacent to its 4620 71st St. headquarters, where it intends to create new jobs over the course of 2009.

McDougal Cos. - Need I say more here? As we speak the company is pumping about $40 million into new apartment construction at two separate sites - both near Texas Tech.

Those are just some of the local investments. I didn’t even mention the outside capital being pumped into Lubbock from companies who have no ties here.

There’s a lot to cheer about living in Lubbock.

Don’t think so?

Look no further than Charlotte, N.C., where Wachovia is going belly-up and where 4,500 jobs are expected to be rubbed out along with an entire housing market full of executive homes.

Now there’s reason to live in the land of cotton.

Find out what else is happening in local business on Chris VanWagenen’s blog Open for Business at www.lubbockonline.com.